This story originally appeared in the Jan. 12 edition of the weekly LINK Reader. To get these stories first, subscribe here.
It’s the second day of the new year, and coach Rod Snapp stands near the Newport High School gymnasium alongside point guard Tay Kinney. The Wildcats just wrapped up a 90-minute practice, and Snapp is listening to Kinney talk about the basketball team.
The Wildcats haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions, but Kinney is resolute. The most important thing to him when it comes to Newport basketball is winning games. The comment puts a smile on the coach’s face.
“He’s 15, but he’s ahead of his years,” Snapp said. “It helps that he’s got good bloodlines. All kinds of people have played basketball in his family. His dad played at Lloyd. His mom went to Highlands, and her dad played.”
Direct in conversation while carrying a 3.62 grade-point average in school, Kinney is easy to understand. But on the basketball court, he is beyond comprehension. For a player so remarkably skilled, he’s only going to get better. When asked what he likes most about the season to date, Kinney said, “Winning. And being with my teammates and being real close.”
Considering the skinny on Kinney, there could have been an entirely different answer.
Kinney entered the season tabbed the local coach’s association’s top player in Northern Kentucky. Everybody else on the list of Top 10 players is older than Kinney. In the class of 2026, Kinney is the No. 3 college prospect in Kentucky, according to Prephoops.com.
With 22 college offers in hand, including those from Louisville, Cincinnati, Xavier, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Illinois and Texas A&M, Kinney has established himself as an elite national prospect and one of the most hotly recruited basketball players in Northern Kentucky history. He received his first offer as a freshman. He announced his latest offer, from the Tennessee Volunteers, on Christmas Eve.
There will be more.
But Kinney isn’t necessarily interested in talking a whole lot about himself after practice. When prodded, he talks a bit about work ethic, but he quickly segues to comments about others.
When asked why he’s playing so much better this season, he said. “I’m in the gym every day. My teammates look for me. My confidence is high.”
And so is his scoring average, up about eight points over last season and holding steady at around 22 per game. He’s among 9th Region and Kentucky leaders. Kinney averaged 13.9 points last season.
On Dec. 30, he had one of the best single-game performances in the history of Newport, the oldest high school still operating in Kentucky. Kinney scored a career-high 49 points on 11-for-14 shooting from the field, 7-for-11 from 3-point range and 6-for-8 on free throws in 26 minutes against a defending Indiana state champion in a tournament final in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Snapp said Kinney’s virtual bucket-a-minute performance was a thing of beauty. But he could have scored more.
“We took him out with 3 minutes left, thinking he had 50,” Snapp said. “I don’t like showing up anybody. But had I known he had 49, I would’ve put him back in. I’ve looked it up. I’ve asked, and I don’t think anybody at Newport has scored 50 in a game.”
With 966 career points on New Year’s Day, Kinney was on pace to quickly join Newport’s 1,000-point club, as a sophomore. He’s on pace to smash Newport’s career scoring record of 1,965 points. (Kinney hit the 1,000-point mark on Jan. 12 in the Wildcats All “A” semifinal victory over Newport Central Catholic).
But Kinney wants to talk about the team.
“My teammates are good at finding the hot hand,” he said. “They keep us going.”
If he keeps it up, Kinney will likely go down in Newport history as one of its greatest basketball players. But Kinney would prefer to talk about current Wildcats, like fellow youngster Griffin Starks, a 6-8 freshman post player.
“It’s a good flow when he’s in there,” Kinney said. “When he gets an offensive rebound, he’s looking for us.”
If Kinney averages 23 points per game the rest of his Newport career, which is entirely possible, and plays in as many as 90 more games for a Wildcats squad expected to be a regional and state contender with Kinney in uniform, he could score another 2,000 points and have a shot at 3,000. Fewer than 40 players have scored that many points in Kentucky history.
That’s how good Kinney is.
Among his areas of improvement are shooting and defense. He’s shooting around 45% from 3-point range. He ranks among state leaders in free throw shooting, hovering around 85%. He’s shooting around 50% from the field. And he’s got some of the sickest moves in Kentucky.
Though he stands 6-foot-1 and weighs a little less than 170 pounds, Kinney is threatening to be Newport’s second-leading rebounder. He’s averaging about 5.0 rebounds per game.
“The kid is very special,” Snapp said. “He’s got big-time goals, and we want to help him realize them.”